Hulk vs. Iron Man #4 (O.S. #3.4) Spoilers

[Loulou]

So I'll start with the basic spoilers of the issue.

spoilers:

Tony runs through the underground of his city in China trying to get to his Big suit of armor. He blasts Hulk with everything he has, but it's still not enough and Hulk knocks him out. Tony wakes up in the desert, where they set off the Gamma bomb, restrained by a big ball of his armor. Hulk makes some jokes and talks about how much of a genius he now is and how Tony's little trick he's working on won't work. Tony says he's counting on that genius and shows the Hulk what he did to the bomb. Hulk sits in front of Tony, says thank you, that they need to talk, and that he's not so angry anymore. Then we're shown Bruce in Hulks place, and he's still mad at Tony. He asks how He got rid of Hulk and Tony says he showed him the truth. We're shown a flashback of Tony having another conversation with his whiskey bottle, over the gamma bomb, who tells him that he doesn't want to do this because Bruce is his friend. Tony finally agrees, but still takes a look at the bomb and realizes that the shielding is actually too much and will make the bomb stronger, so he gets rid of some. Bruce realizes that Tony didn't create the hulk, but actually saved him before Bruce goes to find help to get Tony free of his suit. Then Tony thinks to himself that Bruce can't find out the whole truth, where we see in another flashback that Tony sent an email to Bruce saying he worked on the shielding, and that he noticed something about the gamma research that he didn't know much about, but he knew Bruce would. He said he thought that the bomb might not destroy, but actually change the bio of things, and that Bruce should take a look before the detonate it. Bruce sees the email and deletes it because he's still mad at Tony from the fight they had at the hotel in an earlier issue. Then the last page shows Tony's thought bubbles thinking that maybe if Bruce wasn't so much like him then he could have avoided the Hulk, and that sometime Pride gets is the way, it is one of the Original Sins...

end of spoilers

So now for some thoughts. I really liked the issue, and the series overall. I thought it did a good job of adding things to the story, but not changing it. I'm glad that Tony did not turn out to be the bad guy, but actually helped, and the real enemy was the sin of Pride getting in the way.

I'm looking forward to how this status quo change for Bruce and Hulk turns out.

[KurtW95]

Very glad that they didn't make Tony responsible for it.

[Prof. Warren]

This was a cool series and I'll add my thumbs-up for not making Tony out to be the bad guy. In fact, when we find out what it was that Tony really did to alter the bomb, it's quite a poignant revelation. This definitely added some deeper shadings to Tony and Bruce's relationship without too much in the way of needless retconning. A good job all around as Gillen and Waid go out on a high note. And I've also got to give Luke Ross props for drawing a killer Hulk.

[ShaokhaN]

This was a cool series and I'll add my thumbs-up for not making Tony out to be the bad guy. In fact, when we find out what it was that Tony really did to alter the bomb, it's quite a poignant revelation. This definitely added some deeper shadings to Tony and Bruce's relationship without too much in the way of needless retconning. A good job all around as Gillen and Waid go out on a high note. And I've also got to give Luke Ross props for drawing a killer Hulk.

My thoughts exactly.

[a2542]

This was a cool series and I'll add my thumbs-up for not making Tony out to be the bad guy. In fact, when we find out what it was that Tony really did to alter the bomb, it's quite a poignant revelation. This definitely added some deeper shadings to Tony and Bruce's relationship without too much in the way of needless retconning. A good job all around as Gillen and Waid go out on a high note. And I've also got to give Luke Ross props for drawing a killer Hulk.

Agreed, the art was astounding which was what I enjoyed probably the most. I loved how he drew Hulk.

It was good overall since Tony wasn't made to be another bad guy via retcon.

Can't wait for Duggan's Hulk starting next week.

[TresDias]

I was pleasantly surprised by this. It's much better than the main "Original Sin" story.

What an interesting angle this puts on Tony's decision to send the Hulk into space a few years ago too.

[megaharrison]

Some wise person at Marvel decided not to turn Tony into a supervillain again and in fact turned the tables on Bruce, his arrogance is what led to his downfall, not Tony's. However this whole "Superior Iron Man" thing shows me other people at Marvel are still insisting on the evil Tony angle.

[Aaric Rivad]

I was happy with the way it turned out, but Mark Waid's writing did nothing for me in this series. Tony Stark is an arrogant man, but he's not stupid, so to have him dismiss the Hulk so quickly just seemed like a matter of convenience. For the most part, I just sort of endured his issues, and waited for Gillen's superior work.

[Serotonin]

This made no sense. If the sin here was Banner's pride, that's what he should have seen when the eye went off and everyone saw sins. Instead, the eye went off and he saw Stark tampering and turning him into Hulk, when in reality Stark saved his life, therefore no sin was commited. So the eye, like Marvel, cannot stay on track with continuity. This was a 4 issue waste. Should have known better. Oh well. Time to throw them on eBay and recoup half of what I spent lol.

[Cmbmool]

Well, spoilers:

Hulk always hated Banner anyway...so the only villain is Bruce's pride of being like Tony.

end of spoilers

[Mooper Films]

Now this was a nice series to end Waid and Gillen's work on their books. It tied nicely into established continuity and didn't break or completely rewrite everything. It fits in nicely with the tapestry of the Hulk's origins and where he is now and even with the Illuminati. So, well done and that is some of Luke Ross's best work to date.

[Hariel0079]

This was a cool series and I'll add my thumbs-up for not making Tony out to be the bad guy. In fact, when we find out what it was that Tony really did to alter the bomb, it's quite a poignant revelation. This definitely added some deeper shadings to Tony and Bruce's relationship without too much in the way of needless retconning. A good job all around as Gillen and Waid go out on a high note. And I've also got to give Luke Ross props for drawing a killer Hulk.

I only wish writers can view what Gillen and Waid did, take notes and apply it going forward in their works.

[Sans Simian]

This made no sense. If the sin here was Banner's pride, that's what he should have seen when the eye went off and everyone saw sins. Instead, the eye went off and he saw Stark tampering and turning him into Hulk, when in reality Stark saved his life, therefore no sin was commited. So the eye, like Marvel, cannot stay on track with continuity. This was a 4 issue waste. Should have known better. Oh well. Time to throw them on eBay and recoup half of what I spent lol.

Well, they explained it in the first issue that their memories of that night got merged and mixed. So each only saw part of what went on, and both assumed the worst.

Also, Stark didn't turn Banner into the Hulk. That was Banner himself. You know, that whole part where Tony sends the email that the bomb is going to have genetic side effects, the email that Banner deletes and never sees?I don't see how that makes it Stark's fault the Hulk is released.

And there was clearly sin. Banner's pride in his work made him reject Tony's help, made him reject Tony's email warning him of the dangers of the bomb, and Banner's pride of assuming that he couldn't make a mistake, and that anything Tony did to the bomb was malignant in nature.

Hate the mini-series if you want, but the reveal was consistent with what the premise was.

[Sans Simian]

Can't wait for Duggan's Hulk starting next week.

Me neither. The interview with him a couple of weeks ago has my hopes high for what's coming the rest of the year in the series.

[StoneGold]

While I saw the fakeout coming from the first issue, I'm still happy that's the way it went. Having Tony basically trying to murder Bruce in a drunken haze... that would have been a bit much. That said, I'm hoping Waid isn't doing the same double fake with Daredevil, just because it's too much happening twice. That, and I can buy the bad stuff about Jack Murdock more than Tony's drunken casual murder.